Landfill concerns expressed to DEP official

By CHRISTINE HAINES

chaines@yourmvi.com

People living near the Westmoreland Sanitary Landfill had an opportunity Thursday to sit down with the new regional director of the state Department of Environmental Protection to discuss ongoing issues at the landfill.

The community meeting was arranged via Zoom by Protect PT, a nonprofit environmental group operating in Westmoreland and Allegheny counties.

Protect PT laid out the timeline of issues at the landfill covering the past several years, starting with when it began trucking leachate from the site in May 2019 in violation of its waste permit. 

The landfill operator and the DEP entered into several consent agreements over the next 18 months, but violations continued, with 20 new violations documented at the site so far this year, according to DEP records.

“Unfortunately, the corrective action plan is not yet in place. As you can see, it’s an ongoing problem,” said Protect PT Executive Director Gillian Graber. 

She said a survey conducted last year by Protect PT in the area around the landfill showed 70% of the respondents noticed the mud runoff on the road with 50% finding detours around Tyrol Boulevard, 60% finding the impacts created by the landfill bothersome and 26% noticing changes in their health. Others say they have had an increased cost of living due to purchasing bottled water or air filtration systems for their homes.

Beth Weinberger, director of research and policy for the Public Health Project, said environmental permits tend to deal with individual elements accepted at landfills, ignoring what happens when those items are combined.

“Our approach would be to come up with a high-quality air quality monitoring plan,” Weinberger said. “The goal is to minimize risks. The other thing is to acknowledge this landfill will emit a mixture of items. They can be taken one by one and you miss what they do together.

“If risks are being exposed, the Department of Health and the DEP should warn residents of the increased risks related to the landfill.”

To read the rest of the story, please see a copy of Saturday’s Mon Valley Independent, call 724-314-0035 to subscribe or subscribe to our online edition at http://monvalleyindependent.com.